Egg carton



1937- I J. E. WALSH 7 2,068,730

EGG CARTON Filed Jan. 25, 1935 Patented Jan. 26, 1937 PATENT OFFICE EGG CARTON John E. Walsh, Chicago, Ill., assignor to Self- Locking Carton Co., Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois Application January 25, 1935, Serial No. 3,370

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to cellular cartons of the type customarily employed in shipping and merchandising eggs and other fragile articles, and has particular reference to improvements in the construction of such cartons.

A principal object of the invention is to provide a carton of the type described having an effective cushioning construction whereby to support eggs during transportation and affording protection 10 for the same.

An additional object is the provision of a cushion carton constructed of a very small quantity of material.

A still further object is to provide a cushion 15 carton for eggs and the like in which the eggs are adequately supported and at the same time displayed even when the carton is closed.

These and other objects will be understood from a consideration of the following description of the preferred embodiment of my invention and by reference to the accompanying drawing in which Fig. l is a front view of a carton constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view of the carton shown in Fig. 1 and taken along line 2--2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view of the carton similar to Fig. 2 and showing the carton with 39 eggs placed therein;

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the carton taken along line 4-4 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary top view of the carton taken along line 55 of Fig. 2, showing the car- 35 ton with the cover cut away.

A carton which has met with pronounced commercial success is that described in Troyk Patent No. 1,766,155 in which the carton is constructed from a single piece of material formed into two 40 longitudinal channels having cross partitions dividing the same into individual egg-receiving cells. In the carton of the Troyk patent and in other similar cartons known heretofore, it has been customary to construct the longitudinal 45 channels of substantially the same dimension as the dimension of the eggs the carton is designed to carry. The two longitudinal egg-receiving channels are formed by folding the bottom section upwardly and suspending the same 50 to the cross partitions.

In accordance with my invention a carton is provided in which considerably less material is employed than in cartons of the same type used heretofore. It has been considered in the art 55 that a substantial quantity of paper board was necessary to offer adequate support to the eggs carried by the carton, and my invention is based upon the discovery that the eggs may be adequately supported and protected by use of an extremely less quantity of paper, as compared with 5 that thought necessary heretofore. My improved carton is constructed in such a manner that the egg-receiving channels are materially smaller than the eggs which are carried therein. To accommodate the eggs, the sides of the reduced size egg-receiving channels are materia ly cut away so as to leave a very small amount of material to support the eggs. In this manner the lower portions of the eggs are supported on a small V-shaped body of paper, the sides of the 16 V being provided with slits in addition to the cutaway portions to even further reduce the quantity of material.

As shown in the drawing, the carton is formed by suitably cutting, scoring and folding a blank 20 of material to form, in the order named, coverlocking hooks H], a cover-locking strip I l, a cover l2, a rear wall l3, a rear bottom and longitudinal partition-forming section I, a front bottom and longitudinal partition-forming section I5 integrally joined to the section H, a front wall I 6, a cross partition I! joined to the upper portion of the front wall by means of triangular hinged portions l8, and a cover-locking strip l9 joined to the opposite sides of the cross partitions by means of triangular hinges 20, the cover-locking strip l9 being folded over and suitably glued to the rear wall to complete the formation of the body portions of the carton. The bottom of the carton formed by sections [4 and I5 is pressed upwardly along a score line between these sections and hooks 2! on the bottom of the carton engaged with upturned locking tabs 22 on the cross partitions, suitable slots of less width than the width of the tabs 22 being provided in the bottom and longitudinal partition-forming sections, as shown in Fig. 4. This construction effectively locks the bottom and longitudinal'partition-forming sections in suspended position. The tabs of the cross partitions are provided with cover-supporting projections l8 which, as shown in Fig. 2, extend upwardly adjacent the under side of the cover.

In the usual style carton it is customary that the front and rear walls extend substantially vertically whereby to provide sufficient room for reception of the relatively large eggs which are carried by the carton. In accordance with my construction, the longitudinal channel formed by the rear wall l3 and the rear and bottom longitudinal partition-forming section I4 and the smaller channel formed by front wall I! and front longitudinal partition-forming section I5 are constructed of materially smaller width than the width of eggs which are to be carried in the channel. In addition, the sides of the channels are materially cut away as shown by the openings 23. In addition to the cut-away portions the sides of the channel are further reduced in strength by the provision of a plurality of slits 24 extending from a substantial distance away from the openings 23 to said openings. As will be seen in the drawing, there is very little material left for the support of the eggs. The portion of the carton upon which the eggs are positioned consists of V-shaped paper shoulders terminating in upwardly extending and displaceable segments formed by the slits 24. I have found that the protection afforded by a carton of this construction is further enhanced by cutting the slits 24 into the paper in such a manner that the slits strike the cut-away portions 23 at a non-radial or somewhat tangential direction. That is, as will be seen particularly in Figs. 1, 4, and 5, the slits 24 are offset with respect to the openings 23 and the displaceable projections or tabs formed between these slits likewise are of a non-radial position with respect to the openings 23. This construction affords a particularly advantageous cushioning end support for the eggs, but the construction is stronger than in the case of projections formed by radial slits.

The operation of the carton is shown in Fig. 3, where it will be observed that the eggs rest upon a very small quantity of material spaced no more than approximately one-quarter of an inch above the surface upon which the carton is positioned. Between the bottom of the egg and the bottom of the carton is the V-shaped lower portion of the longitudinal channels projecting upwardly in the form of opposed displaceable shoulders. It will be observed that the eggs held in the carton protrude a substantial distance beyond the normal planes of the wall portions of the longitudinal channels. This factor is important in displaying the eggs without removing the cover from the carton. Also a very satisfactory ventilation is insured.

A particular advantage of my improved type of carton is that by properly regulating the openings or cut-away portions and the slits extending therefrom, the eggs may be removed from the carton without opening the top or cover. This is done merely by inserting the finger between the two egg-receiving channels and pressing the egg outwardly through the opening 23 in the outer side of the carton. As will be seen from Fig. 3, the egg itself protrudes through the inner wall of the carton so that the finger may be pressed directly against the egg, whereby the latter is caused to pass through the greatly weakened outer side of the carton. Thus, any number of eggs may be removed easily without the necessity of opening the cover, and the cutaway portions of the sides of the carton reveals which of the cells have been emptied of their contents.

The extent to which the material of my improved carton is cut away does not render the carton unstable, as would have been expected. Tests have proven that the eggs are adequately supported and a carton is provided having a minimum quantity of material. The substantial weight of the eggs does not cause the bottom of the carton to break away, due to its construction and quite large e gs may be carried in the carton without difliculty. It will be observed that the bottoms of the eggs in this carton are at a lower level than in the case of similar cartons shown heretofore, where the eggs were supported in the body portion of the carton.

Various modifications of the structure disclosed herein for the purpose of illustration and explanation are possible without departing from the spirit of my invention, and all such modifications and embodiments are intended to be included in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A carton of the type described, comprising downwardly and inwardly inclined walls forming a relatively narrow channel of less width than the width of articles to be supported therein, said walls being materially cut away and having non-radial slits extending into said cut-away portions to form oiiset displaceable tabs, the

tabs adjacent the lower part of said cut-away portions providing upwardly extending articlesupporting shoulders, and said cut-away portions and slits being sufliciently large to materially weaken the side structure of said carton and to permit articles in said channel to protrude therethrough when resting on said shoulders.

2. A carton of the type described, comprising a blank cut, scored and folded to form front and rear walls, cross partitions, and a bottom and longitudinal partition-forming section suspended to said cross partitions and forming two longitudinally extending egg-receiving channels of materially less width than the width of eggs to be received therein, each of said channels terminating in a V-shaped base, said walls and said bottom and longitudinal partition-forming sections being materially cut away between each of said cross partitions and having slits extending from said cut-away portions, whereby to provide opposed displaceable upwardly extending shoulders on the bottom of said V-shaped base and to form greatly weakened side structures permitting eggs carried in said channels to protrude therethrough when resting on said opposed shoulders.

3. A carton of the type described, comprising downwardly and inwardly inclined walls forming a relatively narrow channel of less width than the width of eggs to be supported therein, said walls being materially cut away and having slits extending from said cut-away portions, whereby to provide small egg-supporting shoulders in the lower portion of said channel and to form greatly weakened side structures permitting articles carried in said channel to protrude therethrough when resting on said shoulders, the cut-away portions and slits in one of said walls being sufliciently large to permit an egg carried in said channel to be pressed outwardly therethrough.

' JOHN E. WALSH. 

